


The Proposal

by Vowlie



Category: Start-Up (Korea TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-07
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-18 08:55:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28615422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vowlie/pseuds/Vowlie
Summary: ...after their final presentation for the smart city project bidding
Relationships: Nam Do San/Seo Dal Mi
Comments: 17
Kudos: 51





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...after their final presentation for the smart city project bidding

Dosan peek at Dalmi on the passenger seat, reclining the seat so she can relax while he’s driving.

She is clearly spent after days of derived sleep from preparing the final presentation, and overjoyed for winning the bid. They informed the good news to the team through FaceTime, and decided to put aside all the work and met on a restaurant to celebrate.

He took one of his hands off the handle to hold her hand. “Dalmi-ya, do you have time this weekend?” he asks.

“I do” she answers, “Why? Are we going on a date?”

He looks at her wistfully. “I am thinking of searching a new place for myself, and I need you to choose one for me.”

Dalmi set her seat back to normal to study his face properly. “Why?” she asks curiously. “Well, I can come with you to give my opinion, but you should be the one choosing, don’t you think?”

Dosan shrugged. “Just because. I don’t really have any preference. And you’ll be living with me in the near future, so…” he says.

Dalmi felt flustered by his answer. She smiles and play with his hand on hers. He does have a knack of saying such a heart-stopping remarks nonchalantly. She hasn’t even recovered from the last time he declared to propose if they win the bid.

‘ _Wait… is that why he wants me to come with him?_ ’ she ponders. She shrugs the idea and try to focus on something else. Something she almost forgot, because they’ve been extremely busy for the past weeks.

“Dosan-a, it’s your birthday next week. What should we do that day? Do you have something in mind?” she asks. The last time they spent his birthday together, she broke his heart, she wants to make it up for him this year.

Dosan hummed and taps his fingers on the handle. “I want to go on a trip again, with you and halmeoni.”

* * *

They went to Cheolsan’s family ‘private' beach again, this time planning a 2D1N trip so they have more time to relax and halmeoni will not be too tired.

“Halmeoni, how do you feel?” Dalmi rests her head on halmeoni’s shoulder. It’s the first time she took halmeoni on a long trip again after their last trip three years ago.

“Well, I can’t see anything, but it’s nice to smell some fresh air,” halmeoni answers, “Thank you for bringing me here, sorry that I interrupted your birthday date, Dosan-a.”

“Ey, halmeoni, I’m the one who wanted to bring you here” Dosan says, “and besides, I want to get some points from you, because I am about to ask for something big from you, halmeoni".

Halmeoni looked surprised, “What? What are you going to ask me? Your scaring me, Dosan-a!”

Dosan scooted closer and kneel in front of halmeoni, taking both of her hands on his.

Dalmi hold her breath, she felt like she could feel all the blood rushing inside her body. She thinks she knows where would this go.

Dosan understand that halmeoni is the 2nd most influential figure in Dalmi’s life, and since he couldn't ask for Dalmi’s hand to her father, he figured he should ask for halmeoni’s blessing instead.

"Halmeoni, I drove here with my own car, not a rented car like last time. I also secured an apartment with Hangang view which Dalmi likes. I became very reliable than I was three years ago, right?”

Halmeoni let a sigh and squeeze Dosan’s hand. The time has come, she thought. “Dosan-a, you have always been a reliable kid. Without you, I wouldn’t be able to see the world through Noongil”. She then proceeds to tell Dosan the things that she is thankful for to him. 

Dosan put his head on halmeoni’s lap, trying to hold back his tears, feeling overwhelmed. “Thank you, halmeoni, for trusting me” he mumbles. Halmeoni stroke his head quietly, both Dalmi and Dosan come a hard way because of the white lies she started, and she will be always felt guilty by how it hurts Jipyeong. She loved them, including Injae, by all of her hearts.

Dosan lift his head as he calmed down. “Halmeoni, you have been taking care of Dalmi for the last 18 years, but… can I take Dalmi to live with me from now? I promise to protect her, to keep her smile, to make her happy, and although I can’t promise that she wouldn’t ever cry, I will ensure that it will only be happy tears. Can I do that?”

Halmeoni laughs heartily. “Oh, please! Please, take her out of my house. I am too old to hear her naggings every night and day. Dosan-ie it’s now your turn to live with that everyday.”

Dosan let a relieved laugh. He straighten his body to hug halmeoni. “Thank you, halmeoni" he mumbles.

“I know you will take a good care of her" she says. She patted Dosan’s back and released their hug.

Dosan took a deep breath to regain his composure, he reaches for the rings on his pocket and kneels in front of Dalmi.

She was crying, a happy tears, with a hint of betrayal on her eyes because he proposed to halmeoni before he proposed to her first.

Dosan smiles longingly, taking her hands with his left one while showing the rings with his right one.

“Dalmi-ya, will you marry me?” he asks.

Dalmi gives him a nod and reaches for a hug, not being able to contain her feelings.

Halmeoni is getting restless, because she couldn't see Dalmi’s answer. She reaches for the phone hanging on her neck. “Yeongsil-a tell me what’s happening in front of me! Did she accept the proposal or not?”

_“In front of me is a couple of pretty lovers, crying happy tears in each other’s embrace"_

* * *

Dosan and Dalmi are resting on one of the recliner on the veranda of Cheolsan’s family house, gazing at the autumn’s sky. Halmeoni is already asleep inside.

Dalmi raised her hands to observe the new ring on her finger. “It’s your birthday, but I’m the one getting present. I should have bring your present here."

Dalmi bought him a new laptop, noticing that he hasn’t change his laptop for years. And although he said his laptop is still working properly and it’s gonna be a hassle to adapt with a new device, Dalmi has caught him scrolling through a webpage of a new released laptop.

Dosan put his hand on her waist to pull her closer. “I already got my present the moment you accept my proposal" he says as he nuzzles to her hair.

“Dalmi-ya, should we ask halmeoni and your mother to live with us? I don’t want you to be worried” he suggests. He knows that Dalmi cares a lot about halmeoni.

“It’s okay, unnie will take care of them"

“Seo Injae daepyo?”

Dalmi nods. “I called to brag that you proposed, and that I might be moving in with you soon. She said she will persuade halmeoni and mom to live with her, saying it’s her turn to take care of halmeoni" she explains.

Dosan listens as he played with her hair.

“Dalmi-ya, I forgot to tell you something. Cheolsan and Yongsan are also moving in to the same building” he says.

Dalmi lifted her head from Dosan’s shoulder and give him a look. “You guys are inseparable, aren’t you? Should I be jealous of them?” she asks.

But before he answers, she sighed and snuggled back to his arms. “I shouldn’t, right? That sounds petty". Dalmi reach for his hand and played with his ring. “Should we ask unnie to move in to our building as well?”

Dosan chuckled. “You should, it’s gonna be fun". Now that the two sisters have reconciled, he can see that the both of them completes each other.

“Should we just eloped?” Dalmi asks again. “Having a wedding party sounds like a luxury, especially when we’re amidst the preparation of scaling up Cheongmyeong Company.”

“We shouldn’t. Halmeoni will be very upset if we got married without her in presence. My family, too.”

Dalmi agrees. She wouldn’t want to upset their family. “We can have a small ceremony then, with just my family, your family, and our friends” she decides.

“Should we invite Director Han to?” Dalmi asks. She could feel that he flinched when she asked the question. She knows that it’s gonna be awkward and Director Han would still be hurt by either choices.

Dosan grab Dalmi’s hand that was playing with the ring in his finger. “Of course, we should".

Dosan realize that Director Han is a part of Dalmi’s family. Halmeoni cherish him, and he’d been a constant support for Dalmi. Although, he doesn’t want to admit it, Director Han has also become a support for Dosan.

Dalmi smiles absent-mindedly. She just realized that she also likes to rest her head on his wide shoulder. She used to like the smell of clean cotton from his plaid shirts and hoodies, and now she likes the smell of his cologne from his turtlenecks and jackets.

She ponders whether if she should tell him this, because it seems like he likes it whenever she told him of reasons why she likes him.

But she doesn’t want to put reasons behind her feelings. Because she wants to stay in love with him even though all the reasons disappear. His very existence is the reason.

“Dosan-a…”

“Hm?”

“Halmeoni said that I’m a cosmos that blooms in autumn. But that autumn when I sent you away, I wither before I got to bloom. It turns out that I need you around to be able to bloom" Dalmi lifted her head from his shoulder and level her eyes to his.

“Dosan-a, thank you, for making me bloom beautifully this autumn” she says.

He looks deeply to her eyes and smiles. He grazed his thumb on her cheeks and leans for a kiss.

Dalmi broke the kiss and smiles. “For many years to come, promise me that you will always be the constellation of stars that guides me through my sailing without a map.”

“Strictly speaking…”

But before Dosan could finish his sentence, Dalmi silenced him with a quick peck.

“At times like this, instead of pointing out rational, logical facts, you should be saying other things” Dalmi told him.

He smiles bashfully and hides his face on her neck. “I love you” he mumbles.

Dalmi sighed contentedly. So many good things happened to her life recently and this man in her arms play a big part of making those things happened.

She felt like she already reached the moon, but knows that he'll take her further more.

Nothing can stop her from dreaming now.

“I love you, too”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just finished watching Start-up!  
> ...and I'm Team Dosan since episode 1.  
> Kinda upset when I came here and saw that we didn't get much of him and the recognition he deserves.
> 
> He's a stunning male lead just alright.  
> So, Dosan-a, this one's for you 🥂


	2. Chapter 2

Dalmi felt like she’s in the verge of burnout. She peeks at the watch in her wrist, it’s 2 in the morning.

“Saha-nim, should we just wrap-up for today?” she asked Saha who sat across her in Dosan’s dining table.

“Sure, I’ve been doing nothing but unproductive things anyway” Saha shrugs as she shut her laptop down. “I’ll let the boys know” she adds, before moving to the study room.

After they win the bid, the work loads becomes unbearable and working overtime becomes normality. Dalmi and Dosan agreed that it’s time for them to recruit new members for the company and find a new office. But before that, they need to acquire more investment, hence starting the funding round.

All the while meeting the deadlines and requirements for the smart city project. Not to mention the wedding preparation that drives Dalmi crazy because her mom has more demand than her, the bride.

So they split up the works, Dosan and all the developers in their team handle the smart city project, while Dalmi and Saha handle the managerial things and the preparation for series A round. But Dalmi and Dosan make sure to update each other about the progress made by both team in their good night phone calls.

This evening, tired of the office atmosphere, they ended up crashing Dosan’s house, squeezing excuse for the long-delayed housewarming party.

Chulsan exits the room while clinging to Saha, they’ve become so oblivious now that they’re going public.

“I mean.. I can’t let you drive this late at night, you should just sleep in my place” he whines.

Saha give him the side-eye but a hint of smile is visible in her lips.

Yongsan scoffs from behind, “I still can’t believe this guy got girlfriend before me” he shook his head. “Taewan-nim, Kangjin-nim, both of you can stay in my place too if you want, there’s no subway at this hour”.

Both Taewan and Kangjin agreed to the offer, taxi wont be an option because they live in outskirt Seoul. Yongsan and Chulsan lives three and four floors below Dosan unit respectively, so it’s an easy option.

Dosan is the last one to come out from the room. His hair disheveled and his shirt crumpled, he looked tired, but Dalmi doesn’t hate that look on him. His eyes lit up once he noticed Dalmi is looking at him., and like a satellite getting back on track in his orbit, he walks to her.

“Let’s go I’ll drive you home” Dosan said once they walked the rest of the team out to of door.

Dalmi sighs and invites herself to Dosan’s arms. “I don’t want to go home” she whispers, feeling contented, all her fatigue just melt when she hugs him.

Dosan circles his arm around her, “I don’t want you to, either” he said, “but your mom said you can’t stay at my place before we get married”. And he is so keen of getting points from her family.

Dalmi lifts her head to look at him, “We can say I got stuck at work, well practically we are” she reasoned.

He contemplates the idea.

“I’m not up for discussion” Dalmi announces, “and besides, Halmeoni is going to force you to stay the night because she wont allow you to drive at this hour. So why bother?”

Dalmi frees herself from the hug and walk to the bedroom, she really needs to lie down immediately. Good things she has spare clothes here, she thought.

* * *

When Dosan finished washing up, Dalmi is already asleep. He put out the light but the city lights peeking from the window keeping the room dimmed. He climbs the bed carefully as not to wake her, but she stirs up.

“Sorry, I woke you up” he mumbles.

Dalmi hummed lazily and scooted closer to Dosan.

"Unnie was selected to be one of the mentor for the next hackathon” she says.

“I know, she told me the last time I run to her in the elevator”.

“She’s not the type who enjoy small talks, but she looks very comfortable around you, you know”.

Dosan smiles, “Let’s just say the last time I blocked the ransomware, I was not only winning you back, but also winning her favor”.

“She’ll get busier than she already are. I don’t think she’s even interested in other things like romance”. Dalmi thinks it would be nice if her sister also has someone to lean on.

“Really? That’s disappointing. Yongsan has a crush on her” Dosan informs her.

“But I thought he doesn’t like her”.

“Well, he used to, I guess. But lately I often caught him staring at your sister whenever she visits us”.

Dalmi is surprised by the revelation. She was actually thinking that maybe her sister and Director Han could be a good match, both of them are very similar in many ways. But now that Yongsan is in the picture, maybe he could also be a good match for her sister.

But oh well, she already has so much in her plate with the wedding coming up. She’s not in the place of worrying about someone else’s romance, even if it’s her sister’s.

“Dosan-a,” she peeks at the sleepy Dosan, “how long do you think it will take for our company to become a unicorn?”

Dosan shifts himself to face Dalmi, unable to keep his eyes open now, too tired after hours of staring screen full of codes. He stroked Dalmi’s back, hoping it could help her sleep, because he doesn’t think he could resists the sleep any longer.

“I think we could be a unicorn by the time we put Tarzan into the market” Dosan answers.

“So, like you said the other day, roughly in three years?” she asks again.

Dosan mumbles something that sounds like he’s telling her it could be faster but his sentence stopped midway. Dalmi peeks at Dosan again, but he already falls into slumber.

Dalmi yawns, she could feel sleep consumed her too. She snuggled even closer to Dosan.

It’s very convenient to have their good night talk like this outside the limitation of phone call, was her last thought before she drifted away to sleep.

She can't wait until she gets to have their good night talks everyday like this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am very thankful for all your feedbacks in the last chapter, but i am sorry that i can't promise you to keep this continued  
> however, i will try to write if something comes up to my mind :)
> 
> Taewan and Kangjin is the name of the two new developers, I can't find their real name on the official page and i don't think i've seen it written on the subtitles. so I just guessed by the way they called their names during dialogues.
> 
> as for Injae and Jipyeong, yes i see lots of the fans ship them together, but i have slightly different opinion.  
> that'll be wonderful if they ended up together, but both of them are strong alphas,  
> so i think Yongsan will be better match to Injae's alpha, given their history together, to let her alpha down when she's having too much. who knows, we might see other side of Injae from this :)
> 
> but, of course, that would Injae's problem to decide which man would fit her best.
> 
> anyway, thank you for reading!


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